Many of us work in environments where the question "when will you be done with X?" matters. Some of the examples I have seen recently are:

• The business team wants a certain set of functional enhancements as well as performance & scalability improvements. Can we get both done? Will one need to take a back seat to the other?
• A customer has a "deployment window" that we want to hit with a certain set of functionality. Do we look like we will make it? If not, what adjustments might we make?
• A customer wants an early warning if the cost of a project is likely to go over a certain amount.

Today I am reflecting on how difficult it is for individuals and organizations to deal effectively with uncertainty and ambiguity, and how the underlying belief in the possibility of certainty has such a strong hold on us. Examples of that desire for certainty that have appeared on my radar over the last few years include:

Welcome back to the Meet Our Team Q&A series. My name is Daniela Williams, Project Manager at ISE, and I’ll be asking ISE team members questions to help give insight into what makes us tick. 

This month is ISE's 16^th anniversary! Today I'm interviewing Mark Brown, Senior Software Developer, and one of the original ISE team members.